On and off trail around Tucson

In December we roamed around in the Catalina Mountains, trying different trailheads and routes.  Starting January 1, some off-trail areas are off limits for 4 months for Bighorn Sheep lambing season.  So we started with a climb up toward Finger Rock to get that in before the closure.

My "finger rock" pose:

We headed up a small use trail to the Finger Guard, the larger bump to the right of Finger Rock.  Around the back side of the Guard, we got a good look at Finger Rock from a different angle:

We brought a small rope and John helped me up a couple trickier sections.  Eventually I found a spot where I was happy hanging out and waiting, and John clambered up to the top.  He took this picture of Finger Rock, which is about impossible to pick out in front of the cliffs behind it (all the same colors and similar shapes):

Apparently there was a group of rock climbers over there, so John got to watch them ascend the Finger.  Lucky timing!  They might be in one of his pictures but I never picked them out.

At least he also had a nice view of the giant rock columns that were easier to document:

My picture of John coming back down - he's in a shadow and hard to see:

A successful day "up there", on a part of the mountains I never would have imagined I'd be able to reach - thank you John for the help!

Off-trail roaming on our way up Agua Caliente Hill - we found an old dam in a big wash:

On our way upstream:

A nice climb up toward a fixture of the east Tucson skyline, between Mica and the Catalinas:

Admiring the local flora, an interesting type of cactus:

Worse than cactus = shindiggers.  We've run into them (luckily not too many times in a literal sense) recently in our off-trail travels.  Definitely something to avoid!

Top of the hill on a lovely day:

Well, hello:

A view of Mica from Agua Caliente Hill:

This caught on one of our shoes and traveled along for a few steps.  It kind of looks like an animal bone, but turns out to be a weird plant.  I'm guessing its design allows it to tag along with anyone/anything that picks it up:

Wonderful sunset lighting on the saguaros:

Trekking to another lesser-known hilltop, Gibbons Mountain.  I'm not sure how it gets the "mountain" moniker, as it's a small maximum compared to what's in the area.  Still, a nice morning hike from Gordon Hirabayashi campground:

With a good view of the city:

These reminded me of some Chiricahua rock shapes, but I've no idea what I'm going for in this pose:

Another off-trail adventure over to Airmen Peak.  Airmen is a big chunk of stone with steep approaches on all sides, but at least it's not too high.

Just follow John up through the vegetation:

Excellent Catalina views from the top on a wonderfully clear day:

We noticed the robot in the Gibbons ammo can but didn't see that it had a turnkey to get it to walk.  Happily we saw some comments in the logbook on Airmen and made the robot briefly mobile - thank you whoever put this here!

And finally, Pontatoc Ridge up to the cave... I'm not sure whether this is inside the Bighorn closure area or not, so we made a point to climb up there in December.  This is a small side cave where the camera had enough light to take a picture:

The actual long, deep cave goes way back into the darkness - super cool!  Well worth the scramble up to it.  Plus another nice view of Tucson from a high spot:

It has been great fun making headway on our list, all the while adding more things on - this is a big place!

Thanksgiving in Texas

Mom and BilliJo have been talking about coming to the Beard Farm for Thanksgiving some year, and this seemed like a good opportunity.  John and I drove from Tucson and picked them up at the Dallas airport.  The excitement was high!  Or John might have just hit the accelerator pedal on the Rivian...

We really enjoyed seeing friends and relatives, and BilliJo got to experience some Texas hospitality.  Mom and I walked and talked on the road, we tried to help with all the big preparations, and of course everyone ate well.

Thanksgiving day was as big and boisterous as ever.  Just a few of the people who were there - a set of cousins from near and far:

BilliJo captured a short video of the Lykins family playing for everyone, always love listening to them perform:

https://youtube.com/shorts/piMqNUSX9Hw

A quieter moment that week, enjoying the warmth of the fireplace (like son, like mother):

We wanted to get a family picture, and my camera didn't much like the inside lighting, so we headed outside and discussed angles and where to stand (with the flag half-mast for Rosalynn Carter):

Despite our lack of leg coordination, I think this came out pretty well:

On the way back to the airport, BilliJo wanted to look at Texas boots.  I haven't been in a Cavender's in years - it was fun to wander around and try on a couple things.  What do you think?

Mom could be a National Park ranger!

Back at the much-emptier house, I did some sorting of things we've been storing in the back bedroom over the years.  I truly adore the hair on this young man:

Dad made this marquetry artwork for me, an image of my childhood dog Whisper (who barked all the time):

Quite the collection of metal items:

Memories of past adventures:

One way to pare down our stuff - at least for pieces made of wood:

I had time for a run on the trails at Lindsey Park, where I found this cute artwork:

One last family gathering before John and I needed to start driving back to Arizona:

We discovered this in Eastland, causing me to try to emulate Stephen Colbert doing Bernie Sanders with "soup!"

More interesting things to see, like a giant bison skull sculpture in Abilene:

Beautiful fall color!

We had a fun little stroll through the Dr. Seuss park in Abilene:

Hello Horton!

Turtles all the way down?

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not"

Thank you Mr. Lorax!

Odessa has a replica Stonehenge on the university campus - who knew?

It's set up to cast a shadow from the Heel Stone across the street directly into the center of the monument at dawn on the Summer Solstice.  I guess we'll need to come back in a few months.

An odd door in El Paso:

And finally in Las Cruses, my favorite chili pepper:

Fun trip, thank you family for a fantastic Thanksgiving!